From MSN:
The United States has suffered a reputational defeat. Egypt, which for years has been purchasing American weapons and even launched licensed production of Abrams tanks, no longer wants the F-16. Instead of American planes, it has chosen Chinese Chengdu J-10C aircraft.
Chinese manufacture, Egyptian inshallah maintenance? Israel is once again blessed in the caliber of her enemies.
The F-16 is the backbone of Egypt's air force. The country operates as many as 218 aircraft, including 40 in the old F-16A/B variant. In modernizing its air force, the Egyptian authorities decided to replace the oldest F-16s with a new aircraft type.
To be fair, a country living on Gulf oil charity and IMF loans cannot afford the cost of first quality machines. And given that most of the country is held together by duck tape, chewing gum, and baling wire, why should their air force be any different?
Cairo also rejected the American proposal to deliver the latest version of the F-16, the F-16V, and the Russian offer to replace the Vipers with MiG-29M2 aircraft. Instead, Egypt chose the Chinese multi-role aircraft Chengdu J-10C.
In light of this information, which Cairo and Beijing have not officially confirmed, the recent presentation of Chinese aircraft gains a new context. During the Egypt International Airshow 2024, organized in early September, six Chinese J-10C and a Y-20 Kunpeng transport aircraft flew over the Egyptian pyramids.
J-10C AIRCRAFT FOR EGYPT
Egypt's decision is interpreted as an attempt to become less dependent on the United States. Cairo is diversifying its weapons purchases. A decade ago, it ordered Su-35 and MiG-29M2 aircraft from Russia, but the operation of these machines and Russia's reliability as a supplier of parts was unsatisfactory.
Subsequently, Egypt ordered 54 French Dassault Rafale aircraft (with an option to order more) and is now replacing part of its F-16 fleet with Chinese aircraft. As noted by Maciej Szopa from Defence 24, one of the factors influencing this decision may be that Israel is likely unaware of the specifics, capabilities, and weaknesses of Chinese aircraft. Pakistan is currently the only foreign user of Chinese J-10 aircraft.
The decision is likely political, as the J-10C, although more modern than the old versions of the F-16, is inferior to the new variants of this machine offered to Egypt.
CHENGDU J-10 — CHINESE MULTI-ROLE AIRCRAFT
The Chengdu J-10 is an aircraft designed in China in the 1980s, initially as a fighter aircraft and then, in line with global trends, as a multi-role machine.
Its serial production began in 2003, resulting in over 600 units so far. The J-10 has a "canard" aerodynamic layout, is powered by a single engine,
…what happens when poor maintenance causes that single engine to shut down?
and weighs about 43,000 pounds in take-off configuration, of which 12,000 pounds can be dedicated to armament.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
09/11/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
Some official got bribed well.
J-10C is a giant piece of crap. The J-10C has been reported to have consistently prevailed in simulated combat engagements against Su-35 fighters acquired from Russia, with the fighter's reduced radar visibility allowing it to detect and fire on its target first.
Only in fixed tests. The Canards on the front along with that air intake (and the Chinese gods help them if the exterior tanks are on) make radar bounce around more than your mom to different boyfriends. The small body means it can't carry a lot of fuel and weapons so it has really short legs.
The Israeli air force will have a fucking field day with these things.
#6
Hopefully, the Egyptians remove the remote controlled Friend or Foe circuit, before Red China's hire's stand-in nation to start its plans to expand into Africa.
#9
DDMan. Since the Kissinger accords we have paid Egypt a couple of billion dollars a year to keep the peace. The Israeli occupation of Gaza's Philadelphia corridor demonstrates that Egypt has participated in the arming of Gaza. Thus, it is now time to cut the $ cord with Egypt.
Posted by: S MAI ||
09/11/2024 9:56 Comments ||
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#10
PRC has been trying real hard to build quality high performance jet engines and has so been lagging even the Russians by over a decade. So the engine in the J-10C is a maintenance hog and behind the curve as well.
Still, considering the fickleness of foreign governments having multiple suppliers has a certain logic. And of course the bribes are nice as well.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Propagandists of the Islamic State have published a video about the hostage taking in a prison colony in Surovikino on the information resources of the terrorist organization.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", on August 23, in colony No. 19 in Surovikino, four prisoners (natives of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), declaring themselves supporters of the "Islamic State", took 12 people hostage. Three employees of the colony were killed, two more later died in the hospital. As a result of the assault, the participants in the seizure were killed. There is a shortage of employees in Russian colonies, and those who are there work long hours for modest salaries, which contributes to the development of corruption, noted security officials interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".
The Islamic State (IS) has published a video on its information resources dedicated to the hostage-taking in Colony No. 19 in Surovikino. The video is a compilation of footage that appeared on the Internet on the day of the hostage-taking. IS propagandists edited the video about the activities of the terrorist organization, adding Arabic subtitles, as well as audio with statements by one of the former IS speakers. However, the video does not provide any new information about the hostage-taking, the Directorate 4 Telegram channel reported today.
Recall that earlier human rights activist Igor Nagavkin noted that in IK No. 19 in Surovikino, where prisoners took the colony employees hostage, living conditions are extremely poor, and provocations against Muslims are practiced. He believes that this could lead to a riot.
The reason for the seizure in the colony was the dehumanization of the FSIN system, said human rights activist Anna Karetnikova and journalist Vyacheslav Lemkus. The FSIN Directorate for the Volgograd Region called the data on poor living conditions and oppression of Muslims fake, without providing evidence for their words.
The hostage-taking in Surovikino was the second in the Southern Federal District in three months. It was preceded by a similar incident that occurred in mid-June in the Rostov pretrial detention center. In both cases, the attackers declared themselves supporters of the "Islamic State"*. The details were collected by the "Caucasian Knot" in the report " Hostage Taking in the Volgograd Colony and Rostov Pretrial Detention Center in the Summer of 2024 ".
[Breitbart] Germany announced a string of proposals Wednesday to enforce its hardened stance on immigration and reduce the number of asylum seekers trying to enter the country and stem terrorist threats along with cross-border crime.
Berlin says it must tackle irregular migration due to overburdened public services and to protect the public from threats such as Islamist extremism.
The move comes as a day after it was announced Germany would start carrying out strict controls on all its land borders to turn away any possible illegal entries, as Breitbart News reported.
The latest proposals, as noted by Reuters, include detaining asylum seekers while authorities determine whether Germany is responsible for processing their case with the help of Europe’s shared fingerprint database, Eurodac, amongst other tools, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told a news conference.
“We want people whose asylum procedure is the responsibility of another E.U. country to be sent back there,” Faeser said.
The Reuters report notes the measures reflect Germany’s hardening stance on immigration in the wake of high arrivals of asylum seekers from both the Middle East and Ukraine which could strain relations with other European states.
“We will approach our European partners at a high political level to ensure that they give their approval for readmission to the respective countries more quickly so that the European rules are complied with,” Faeser said.
The German Federal Police Union (DPolG Bundespolizei) confirmed its members remain well-positioned for the checks at the land borders, Die Welt reports.
There are “sufficient forces” to take on this task, said the federal chairman of the union, Heiko Teggatz, to the Rheinische Post in Düsseldorf.
“We can handle this from everyday business, so we won’t need any additional staff for this,” he emphasized.
During the additional border controls, cars should be flagged down at random and checked. Teggatz does not expect any “serious impacts” on traffic. “The federal police will ensure the controls in combination with stationary measures and veil searches.”
I guess they haven't got the message that Germany is closing the border.
[DW] The Drina River on the Bosnian-Serbian border is a bottleneck on the busy Balkan route. Some locals help migrants where they can, others see them as an opportunity to earn money. The authorities are overstretched.
It's a warm, sunny, late summer day on the Drina River near the village of Kozluk in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Although the river can reach a depth of up to 1.5 meters (almost 5 feet) in places, it is mostly only knee-deep around here, which means it's almost possible to wade from one bank to the other.
Three young men have just emerged from the river; their shorts and T-shirts are still wet.
"We just swam over," one of them tells DW. He says his name is Aman and that he is 20-years-old. "We saw that no one was on the other side, so we set off. In some places, the river bed is dry. We got wet, but the sun is shining, so we'll dry off quickly," he says, smiling. All three laugh.
WELL-WORN REFUGEE PATH
After almost a full decade since Angela Merkel threw open the doors, well-trodden seems a fair description.
The three young men come from Morocco and are on their way to western Europe. They traveled first to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... and then to Greece. From there, they crossed over into North Macedonia and on to Serbia. Until just a few days ago, they were in a reception facility near Belgrade.
The Drina River is part of what is known as the "Balkan route" used by many migrants colonists en route to northwestern Europe. This land route usually begins in Turkey and then winds up through the Balkans through either Bulgaria or Greece.
VOLUNTEERS ON HAND TO HELP
Here, at the Drina River, which forms a large part of the border between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the three young men waited until the coast was clear and for a good opportunity to cross. "No problem, no problem," they say at the end of almost every sentence.
One of the three sustained minor injuries to his legs while crossing the river. A volunteer from a Bosnian Red Thingy team that happened to be in the area when they came out of the river, bandages the young man's right knee.
The Red Thingy team patrols the river bank regularly on the lookout for migrants colonists in need of food or medical assistance.
Sometimes, says team leader Mladen Majstorovic, they are called on by the border police.
His colleague, Darko Jovanovic, says that the Red Thingy team treated a total of 800 refugees here and handed out almost 3,000 meals in the first eight months of the year.
MIGRANTS HAVE DROWNED IN THE RIVER
Every day, dozens of migrants colonists cross into Bosnia along this section of river. Hardly anyone stops them.
This part of the border is patrolled by an insufficient number of Bosnian border guards. Hundreds — perhaps even thousands — of guards would be needed to patrol the entire region.
The situation is so dramatic that at some border crossings, there is only one officer processing all entries and departures at a time.
Despite claims to the contrary, the Balkan route was never entirely shut down. Indeed it has been particularly busy again for quite some time now — especially along the Drina.
There have been a number of tragedies on the route in recent years. The last one took place just a few weeks ago when at least 10 migrants colonists drowned in the Drina close to the Serbian town of Ljubovija on August 22 when a completely overcrowded inflatable boat capsized.
The people were apparently crammed onto the boat by human traffickers. Eighteen people managed to save themselves.
'IT ALL SEEMS ORGANIZED'
Nihad Suljic has also noticed that the number of migrants colonists at the Drina has risen sharply in recent months.
In addition to his regular work in the eastern Bosnian city of Tuzla, the 34-year-old is also a human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. activist who helps stranded migrants colonists by providing them with the bare necessities.
Suljic is well known in Bosnia because he helped set up a cemetery for migrants colonists who had been found dead in the country.
"When it comes to migration, Bosnia is once again the center of attention," Suljic told DW. "But unlike in the pandemic years and the period immediately preceding it, the human traffickers now seem to be perfectly integrated into the structures."
After crossing the border, migrants colonists used to walk in small groups to the reception facilities or straight on towards Croatia, says Suljic, adding that migrants colonists are now rarely seen on the streets, because the reception centers are all full. "It all seems to be perfectly organized," he says.
MIGRANTS KEEP OUT OF SIGHT
Miroslav Radisic says much the same thing. He owns a guesthouse only a few meters from the Sepak crossing on the Bosnian-Serbian border, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) downstream from the city of Zvornik in Bosnia.
Radisic says that business with the refugees is booming, that everything is interconnected and everyone in the region knows it.
According to Radisic, taxi drivers wait right outside his guesthouse and negotiate with arriving migrants colonists about prices.
"You can't get any sleep around here, with taxis coming and going all the time," he complains. "Then there are the sirens blaring. People fight over the refugees: Sometimes ten refugees arrive and 20 taxi drivers are waiting for them here."
Radisic is standing underneath the bridge over the Drina that leads to Serbia, explaining how migrants colonists cross the border on the underside of the bridge.
"They climb onto the steel girders under the bridge and abseil down a rope hanging down on our side that no one removes — not even the officers here at the border."
When asked why this is the case, Radisic says that the border will only be hermetically patrolled when the border police get enough personnel.
STEPPING UP BORDER PATROLS
In response to a query from DW, the border police in Bosnia and Herzegovina said that the force is monitoring the border more closely and that more coppers and members of the special security forces have been deployed. Their aim is to stop irregular migration.
"Since the beginning of the year, border coppers have registered 5,477 people who have illegally crossed or tried to cross the border," the border police said in a statement. "In most cases, human traffickers, who bring people across the Drina either in private cars or with boats, are also involved."
The three young Moroccans seem to have come to Bosnia on their own steam — at least they make no mention of human traffickers.
They say that they first want to go to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and then cross the green border into Croatia near Bihac in northwestern Bosnia. They are headed for Germany.
"We cannot lead normal lives in Morocco," they say, when asked why they have made the journey. Then they get into a taxi and set off towards Zvornik.
[IsraelTimes] Canadian minister says Pakistani national entered country in May 2023, says police ‘did their jobs’ by arresting suspect before attack allegedly planned for Oct. 7 anniversary
A Pakistani man arrested last week in Quebec and accused of plotting to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn came to Canada on a student visa, Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday.
Miller said Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was granted a student visa in May 2023 and arrived in Toronto in June of that year. Miller said he wouldn’t provide any more details since the case is before the courts.
Authorities in the US allege Khan planned to use guns and knives to carry out a mass shooting in support of the Islamic State jihadist group on the one-year anniversary of the devastating October 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the ongoing conflict in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The Conservative opposition party in Canada have been demanding the government answer questions about how Khan was allowed into the country.
“We take any security breach and any entry into Canada very seriously,” Miller said. “Let’s not be naïve. A determined individual can gain access to this country and that is for the security services inside our country to apprehend this person if they commit a crime or if they’re about to commit a crime.”
Miller added that Canada’s police forces “did their jobs” by arresting the individual and that “we’ll let the court case take its course.”
Earlier this year a man and his son were arrested for allegedly plotting to carry out a terror attack in Toronto.
The father, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, has Canadian citizenship but the son, Mostafa Eldidi, does not.
The father is also accused of committing an aggravated assault in 2015 for the benefit of Islamic State somewhere outside of Canada.
[IsraelTimes] Terror chief congratulates Algerian president on election in message hailing Oct. 7 onslaught; US said to be at odds with fellow mediators over who to blame for lack of Gaza deal.
Sinwar, who was named Hamas’s top leader after Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in late July, is believed to be hiding in tunnels under the Gaza Strip and has issued few public statements since the launch of the October 7 attack that he’s accused of masterminding.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant this week vowed Israel would kill Sinwar and his brother Muhammad, a senior commander in Hamas’s military wing, though the government’s official point person on efforts to free the Gaza hostages said Tuesday that if Sinwar relinquishes the terror group’s control of the Strip and releases all the hostages, Israel would provide him with safe passage out of the enclave.
Speaking to Bloomberg during a visit to Washington, Gal Hirsch said he was “ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him.”
“We want the hostages back,” he aded. “We want demilitarization, de-radicalization of course — a new system that will manage Gaza.”
Hirsch said that he presented the offer a day and a half ago, but did not elaborate on whether or not there has been any interest in the offer from the other side of the negotiating table.
MEDIATORS SAID DIVIDED ON WHO TO BLAME FOR LACK OF DEAL
Israeli television, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that the United States is at odds with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar regarding who is to blame for the failure thus far to reach a hostage-ceasefire agreement.
While the US is supportive of Israel, and has publicly stated that Hamas is to blame for the deadlock — including on its demands regarding the releases of Palestinian security prisoners — Egypt and Qatar “think the opposite,” Channel 12 news reported.
The disagreement is so profound that Egypt and Qatar have “considered issuing a joint statement blaming Israel for the failure of the contacts,” the report said.
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby, saying Monday that the US was “working night and day” to try to get a deal in place, specified that “Hamas is the main obstacle to this right now.”
Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “not even a handful of issues” remain, and that they are “hard but fully resolvable.”
According to the Channel 12 report, Israel’s negotiators fear the differences between the mediators will further delay a possible deal.
The network also reported that Qatar and Egypt have no real leverage over Hamas.
Hamas has thus far brought in $500 million by commandeering and selling the supplies that enter the Strip at a rate of 200 trucks a day.
It noted that Hamas has been deprived of its smuggling route along the Philadelphi Corridor at the Gaza-Egypt border but is profiteering massively from humanitarian aid. It cited an estimate made known to the security establishment that Hamas has thus far brought in $500 million by commandeering and selling the supplies that enter the Strip at a rate of 200 trucks a day. Hamas, the report said, uses the money, among other purposes, to recruit new gunmen — of whom it said there are now 3,000 in northern Gaza.
According to the channel’s Arab affairs analyst Ohad Hemo, Hamas has reasserted “full governance” in northern Gaza, where it has resumed paying salaries to some of its officials.
BEN GVIR REPORTEDLY EXCLUDED FROM NEW SECURITY FORUM
Channel 12 also reported Tuesday evening on a brief disagreement that broke out between government ministers during the cabinet meeting in which they were shown footage of the tunnel in Gaza where the six hostages executed by Hamas were held.
The report said ministers were told that the footage was being shown to them at the request of the families of the hostages, who hoped that seeing the harsh conditions would help change the minds of lawmakers who opposed a deal for their release.
At this point, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir retorted that he, too, “spoke with the families,” and that “not everyone wants a deal, there are those who want to increase the military pressure,” the report stated.
Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel was said to have then told the ultranationalist leader to “stop shouting and let them show us the footage as the families requested.”
The report added that several ministers were brought to tears by the harrowing footage of the tunnel where the hostages were held and murdered, but did not specify which lawmakers.
Separately, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has established a new forum to deal with matters pertaining to war management that does not include Ben Gvir, three months after the war cabinet was disbanded after the National Unity party left the government to protest the premier’s handling of the war. Ben Gvir has repeatedly voiced his desire to be among those making the decisions in the war.
The new forum will receive security briefings from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the heads of Israel’s defense establishments regarding developments on all fronts, the report said.
According to Kan, the limited forum is made up of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
A source close to Netanyahu alleged to the broadcaster that Smotrich was invited to join the forum because the premier “trusts him not to leak the proceedings, and to try and convince him to support the deal to release the hostages.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party previously accused Ben Gvir of leaking “state secrets and private conversations.”
[IsraelTimes] The Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... Red Islamic Thingy and the UN agency for Paleostinians (UNRWA) sign an agreement with $4.5 million from a Qatari state development fund to aid more than 4,400 stranded Paleostinian workers and patients from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... in the West Bank.
"[The] cash assistance will represent vital support for those displaced who have not been able to return to the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip last October," a statement from Qatar’s state news agency says.
"Thousands of Paleostine refugees from Gaza remain trapped in the West Bank, trapped in this crisis situation, stranded from their loved ones and livelihoods," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini adds.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... ’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 hard boyz burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it has resumed its major operation in the northern West Bank, and a large number of troops are currently carrying out a raid in the Tulkarem area.
The operation, internally dubbed Summer Camps, was launched on August 28 with raids in Tulkarem, Jenin and Tubas.
The IDF withdrew from Jenin on Friday, and there have been no major raids since.
[IsraelTimes] A group of Paleostinians poses with weapons at a mourning tent for Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... operatives in Jenin, just days after the IDF withdrew from the West Bank city after a 10-day counterterrorism operation.
Videos circulating on social media show dozens of gunnies at the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad terror group event, some with face masks, with posts reading "Glory to the resistance."
The IDF said earlier this week that 14 Paleostinian button men in Jenin were killed during the West Bank raid, among them the commander of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... in the city, while more than 30 wanted Paleostinians were detained.
Israel has long said the camp is a hotbed of terror activity, and has moved in to make arrests and dismantle terror infrastructure from time to time.
#1
Wash, rinse, repeat. Jan 19, 2024 — The IDF says it completed a 45-hour counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp on January 19, 2024. The raid resulted in the arrest of 37 …
Posted by: S MAI ||
09/11/2024 10:02 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... is no longer an organized military force in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip after Israel’s 11-month ongoing military campaign, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told foreign journalists on Monday. Later Tuesday, meanwhile, Gallant told troops that the IDF was shifting its focus from Gaza to the northern front, and that they should prepare for a ground offensive there.
"Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas bully boyz and pursuing Hamas leadership," Gallant told the foreign press, while warning that the window was closing on an opportunity to reach a temporary hostage-ceasefire deal with the Paleostinian terror group, which he said could also bring calm to the volatile northern border with Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... Gallant accused Hamas of intransigence in the talks and called for more international pressure on the Iran-backed terror group. Still, he said that after inflicting heavy damage recently on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, there is an opportunity for at least the first phase of the deal.
SHIFTING FOCUS TO LEBANON
He said he believed a truce with Hamas could also lower tensions with Hezbollah and allow Israelis who have been displaced since October 8 to return to their homes in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border.
Wishful thinking. Despite all the talk, everyone demanding a ceasefire just wants the IDF to go home before it decisively beats Hamas, making it impossible to return to the status quo ante.
"Achieving an agreement is also a strategic opportunity that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts," Gallant said.
As an IDF general and former commander of the Southern Command, Defense Minister Gallant should know the harm he does by spouting such arrant nonsense. Since there is only a small chance of an agreement, and none that Hamas would abide by it — unless building up to the next 10/7, as they promised — what can he possibly think to achieve by pushing this naively hopeful line?
However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... speaking later to troops during a drill in northern Israel simulating a ground offensive in Lebanon, Gallant said Israel was moving its focus to the northern front and they should prepare for a Gaza-style ground operation there.
"The center of gravity is moving to the north, we are nearing the completion of our missions in the south, but we have a task here that has not been carried out, and this mission is to change the security situation and return the residents to their homes," he said to reservists of the Oded Brigade in northern Israel.
"These instructions you are waiting for, I gave in the south and saw the forces at work," Gallant said, referring to Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza. He added that such orders "will come here as well and you should be prepared and ready to carry out this mission."
"We are finishing training the entire order of battle for a ground operation [in Lebanon], in all its aspects," Gallant said. "I’ve already seen in many circumstances where I stood next to troops who told me: ’You are just talking.’ After a week I met them on the ground."
Hezbollah began striking Israel immediately after Hamas’s October 7 massacre ignited the war. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border fire daily, coming close on several occasions to a full-blown war.
The fighting has forced tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese to flee their homes near the volatile border and resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 434 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
It seems unlikely that Hamas would accept a partial deal in which it would give up the hostages — its most valuable bargaining chips — for only a brief pause in the Israeli military campaign.
But international mediators have been working on a bridging proposal that they hope could meet the demands of all sides. US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Too old and senile to be prosecuted, not too old and senile to set national policy... said last week he was "optimistic" that a deal was within reach.
And then they thought there was no chance, given Hamas’s new demands for drastically increased numbers of hard boys in exchange for civilians and corpses. But there is so much ego tied up in making a deal that they keep going back, and Hamas waits to see what the better offer will be.
At home, the Israeli government faces significant domestic pressure to reach a deal as well, particularly after the deaths of six hostages who were executed by their Hamas captors earlier this month as troops approached the area where they were being held.
Gallant described the current situation as a "strategic junction" — where Israel can reach a deal with its adversaries or risk fighting a broader war that could draw in Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran.
Yeah, yeah. Your adversaries just want you all to lay down and die. How do you reach a deal with that?
Gallant said he prefers a deal, but that Israel is ready for all scenarios. "We are capable of defending ourselves and we can also retaliate if necessary," he said. "We have the ability to hit any strategic goal in Iran."
You stick to that military stuff, Minister. It’s good for a man to play to his strengths…and avoid his weaknesses.
#1
Dr. Einat Wilf: I listen to the Palestinians, there is no hostage deal This breaks my heart. My country is being ripped apart as our people fight each other saying to take the deal or not. There is no deal to be taken, and if there was one, it is only the same demand Hamas made on October 8th. They want to go back to how things were on October 6th, and that is why they took the hostages, as an insurance policy, and to show the world that you can invade Israel and suffer no consequences.
#3
Interesting: Divide and conquer. Cut Gaza in half at the Wadi Gaza, and create a block with Egypt across the Philadelphia corridor. It appears that Israel is cutting Gaza in two, and will probably greatly limit the flow across that border. The south will only be entered via a border crossing with Egypt controlled by Israel. "Never Again" becomes a reality (perhaps) once again.
Posted by: S MAI ||
09/11/2024 10:12 Comments ||
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#4
I assume attention will be paid to any freshly distributed piles of dirt as well
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2024 10:22 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Health and aid officials say access restrictions, evacuation orders, fuel shortages hampering operation to vaccinate some 200,000 children.
The campaign in northern Gaza, the part of the territory hardest hit by Israel’s 11-month military offensive against Hamas terrorists, follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month.
Israel also issued an evacuation order in north Gaza, the first in more than two weeks, that included areas that are part of humanitarian pause zones agreed upon for the polio vaccinations, the UN noted on Monday.
However, the IDF said the area was an “active combat zone” after the evacuation order was given in response to Hamas firing two rockets from the area to Ashkelon. It added that residents in the area had received repeated warnings.
The campaign to vaccinate some 640,000 children in Gaza began on September 1, following confirmation by the WHO last month that a baby had been partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
[IsraelTimes] Initial report says troops aimed at ‘main instigator,’ not at Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi; activist’s family demands independent probe; Blinken slams ‘unprovoked and unjustified’ killing
An American peace activist who was rubbed out in the West Bank last week had "with high probability" been hit by IDF troops’ mistaken gunfire, the army said Tuesday, expressing regret for the killing.
The military says it has completed an initial probe into the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who also held Ottoman Turkish citizenship. The probe, carried out by commanders, has found that Eygi was likely killed by "indirect and unintended IDF fire, which was aimed at a main instigator" during a riot.
"The incident occurred during a violent mostly peaceful gathering of dozens of Paleostinian suspects, who burned tires and threw stones at forces at Beita Junction," the IDF said, adding that it "expresses its deepest regret over the death."
The thing about putting yourself forward as a human shield during a crossfire is that you are likely to find yourself crossed by fire, with painfully predictable results.
The Military Police has also launched an investigation into the killing and will submit the findings to the Military Advocate General for review. The IDF said Israeli officials have submitted a request to carry out an autopsy.
Eygi, a Ottoman Turkish-born American citizen, was an activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), "a Paleostinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation" with nonviolent mostly peaceful tactics. The ISM holds regular demonstrations at Beita Junction, near Nablus in the northern West Bank.
The killing came a day before the IDF wrapped up a 10-day counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank, which the army said killed more than 30 button men. The IDF renewed operations in Tullkarem on Tuesday.
[IsraelTimes] US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... says the killing of a US-Ottoman Turkish activist during a protest in the West Bank last week appears to have been an accident, after the IDF said she had "with high probability" been hit by soldiers’ mistaken gunfire and expressed its regret for her death.
"Apparently it was an accident — it ricocheted off the ground, and she got hit by accident," Biden tells news hounds, hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... said the killing was "unprovoked and unjustified."
Glory be. I can only imagine how bad the polling is if the president’s handlers put those words in his mouth.
[IsraelTimes] As part of the lessons learned from its underwhelming April attack on Israel, Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... undertook a series of 13 test launches in August ahead of a potential response to the liquidation of Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... in Tehran, widely attributed to Israel, a Western diplomat is quoted as saying by the Israel Hayom daily.
Half of the around 150 missiles Iran fired on April 13-14 failed to reach Israel, officials said in the attack’s immediate aftermath. Now, the official hints that covert operations by the US, Israel and other Western partners played a significant role in the high rate of failure. The official also points at faulty materials and shoddy workmanship by the Iranians.
In the April attack, Iran launched a large wave of around 300 attack drones and missiles from its territory toward the Jewish state, in the first-ever direct attack on Israel by the Islamic Theocratic Republic. The attack was carried out to avenge seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, including two generals, who were killed in an alleged Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on a building near Tehran’s consulate in Damascus on April 1.
Tehran initially did not believe Israeli reports that they were only able to hit one airbase with minor damage, says the official, but when they understood that the reports were correct, they embarked on a process to understand what happened and how to remedy the situation, according to the official.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
